Repulsive Casimir-Polder potentials of low-lying excited states of a multilevel alkali-metal atom near an optical nanofiber

We study the Casimir-Polder potential of a multilevel alkali-metal atom near an optical nanofiber. We calculate the mean potential of the atom in a fine-structure state. We perform numerical calculations for the Casimir-Polder potentials of the ground state and a few low-lying excited states of a rubidium atom. We show that, unlike the potential of the ground state, which is negative and attractive, the potential of a low-lying excited state may take positive values, oscillate around the zero value with a decaying amplitude, and become repulsive in some regions of atom-to-surface distances. We observe that, for a nanofiber with a radius of 200 nm, the potential for the state 8S(1/2) of a rubidium atom achieves a positive peak value of about 17 mu K at a distance of about 150 nm from the fiber surface and becomes strongly repulsive in the region of distances from 150 to 400 nm. We also calculate the nanofiber-induced shifts of the transition frequencies of the atomic rubidium D-2 and D-1 lines. We find that the shifts are negative in the region of short distances, become positive, and oscillate around the zero value with a decaying amplitude in the region of large distances.

Automated summary

This study investigates the Casimir-Polder potential of a multilevel alkali-metal atom near an optical nanofiber. The potential of low-lying excited states can be positive and repulsive in certain regions of atom-to-surface distances. The study also calculates the nanofiber-induced shifts of the transition frequencies of the atomic rubidium D-2 and D-1 lines.